Spring

One of the BEST parts of country living is having access to so much delicious FRESH produce! Some good friends of ours just started growing Rainier cherries here in Mattawa, and they ended up with so much extra, they delivered crateful’s to all their friends and neighbors! We are so lucky!! We have been eating them like crazy, but since there’s so many, and there’s only 4 of us… I have been thinking of some delicious, creative ways to use them. Tonight I was making a traditional thai mango and sticky rice dessert, and thought i’d change things up a bit by adding some of the Rainier cherries, and a little lime! The dish not only turned out way more beautiful than usual… but the flavors worked so well together, it was delicious, and summery, and my little family loved it! We hope you do too! P.S. I wish I could share out some of these cherries!More

Late on saturday night as I was preparing an object lesson for my primary kids at church, I realized I had kinda run out of time to bake the 60 cookies that I wanted to give to them for a handout! Instead, I decided to make some cookie-dough balls — if my primary kids were anything like my own kids, I knew they would much prefer these anyway! I substituted the egg in my favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe for milk, to make them “edible” and quadrupled the batch. We had SO many left-over, that the adults got to eat some too–and they were a HUGE hit. I don’t think as many people have asked me for one of my recipes as much as this one! So, I told everyone i’d post it on the Blog! I was going to halve, and maybe even halve again, the recipe–but the batch turned out SO spot-on perfect, that I didn’t want to mess it up. They are soft and creamy, with the perfect balance of salt, and sugar and vanilla! I know this recipe makes a lot, but you can freeze any left over cookie dough balls, or make cookie dough ice-cream, or just hand them out to everyone you know to make them love you!

I fell in love with panna cotta when I tried it for the first time in Greece last summer. I came home and recreated a couple of different recipes–both of which were full fat and full of cream, but this week I decided to make a slightly lighter, healthier version. Lately I have been obsessing over coconut, so I decided to make a version with low-fat coconut milk, and top it with nutella and strawberries– just because that’s one of the most delicious combinations I could think of! The coconut panna cotta was smooth, creamy, sweet and subtle, and the rich chocolate and strawberries were just so divine with it! I love recipes like this, that are so delicious, pretty and elegant, but are SO quick and easy to make! I hope you guys love these as much as we do!More

My mother in law is a really talented cook and baker, and I have shared a lot of her awesome recipes over the course of this Blog–but the one I am most excited about passing on–the one that everyone LOVES– is this one. I have posted a couple of roll recipes before–a beginner’s recipe that is so fool-proof it’s almost impossible to get wrong, and one that is crusty and delicious and looks pretty! But this is the ultimate SOFT, delicious dinner roll recipe. It is a little harder to master, which is why I wrote down some really specific tricks and tips! But I guarantee you the effort will be WAY worth it–and that they will be the softest dinner rolls you have ever tried. She published the recipe in a local church cookbook years ago, and everyone who has tried to recreate them has failed… so my sister and law and I teased her that she purposefully left out a key ingredient, or secret, and that is why we decided to watch her like a hawk and take notes last time she baked them! I went home and tested the recipe as I had written it–and it was perfect! They came out warm and soft and pillowy and sweet! Thanks Daneen for letting us share your “secret” recipe! I don’t “hope” you love it, as I usually write. I “know” you all will!More

My five year old-sons preschool class celebrates every holiday with a big party, and I always try and volunteer sugar cookies or cupcakes to help them celebrate! A few weeks ago I found this adorable bunny cookie cutter and have been excited to use it–I know it’s hardly very “original” to make white easter bunny cookies for easter! But I tried to get a little creative with some pink pearls and shaved coconut for their little pom pom tails. We have had a real bunny running around our house this past week, and I told my kids he’s the Easter bunny getting ready to deliver treats! They love him, and I think they loved these cookies just as much! More

About Me

Hi, i’m Sarah. Welcome to “Mattawa Mum” a place for me to share my life as an English stay at home Mum of two, in a small American farm town known as Mattawa. Life out here in the middle of nowhere has been one hard adjustment--I used to live an hour from London, and now I live an hour from a decent grocery store, but I have found that working hard, keeping busy and learning all I can, help me focus on more positive things as I grow as a wife, mother, artist, crafter, photographer, home-cook and now “Country-girl!” I hope you stay a while, and find something fun to read, cute to copy, or good to eat!